From the Closet of the Heart, is a collection of letters and short stories compiled by Soniya Kapoor. It is published by Artson Publishing House. These letters and stories are laced with long lost letters and memories, thus, a lot of nostalgia. The cover shows two hands carrying the light in the form of a cracker, symbolizing how on Diwali, people light up their houses amidst the darkness. If I connect this with the book’s theme that would mean lighting up the darkest corners of our hearts and trying to see within to revive the lost and forgotten memories, and the deep seated emotions. The subtitle—A book of love, gratitude, remembrance and apologies—says it all.

The 49 write-ups (stories and letters) that this book has are centered on the theme of seeking closure and confessions. Each piece is well-written and gripped me as a reader. I could find so much to relate to in the book. The pain, the trauma, is extraordinary.

Now it’s difficult for me to list out what I liked about each and every story here but believe me, the book is worth your time. The authors have successfully portrayed deep and hidden emotions, the real events that moved them. The language is simple and easy to comprehend.Readers will find the write-ups quite gripping. I myself found them quite engaging. The subject is tackled beautifully by the skillful authors who have inked their real emotions without a tinge of make-belief.

However, as you must have noticed just in the titles, the editing forms a weak point of the book. I have highlighted some obvious editing errors in the titles. Other than that unnecessary punctuation and capitalisation is a turn off too. Throughout the book, the editing is given a back seat. Being an editor, these things kill my interest in the book. The emotions were the only factor that made me hold on till the end.

Further, this 133-page book is good enough to shed light on the way we live, the things that we let go in the race of life, the hidden secrets that we all have. It’s overall a compelling book and gives a lot to reflect on.

Rating: 3.5/5

I really hope you enjoyed reading my review on the book ‘From the Closet of the Heart’. Have you read it? Do share your views and experiences in the comments below.

As always thank you so much for taking out time and reading my blog.

Always keep smiling, it makes you look beautiful!

Disclaimer:Image taken from www.google.com

‘From the Closet of the Heart’ By Soniya Kapoor: Book Review was last modified: December 8th, 2018 by Kanika Sharma

After the completion of one whole week, I am yet again here to discuss about another book, which was sent to me by the Author’s Ink Publications. This book comprises of many scary stories. Finally, I am done reading this book and all set to review it for your guys today on my blog.

The Haunting Tale: This story is written by Suhail Mathura. The story is based on true incident. The two cousin brothers, Mukesh and Ranjit, who loves each others’ company goes through a scary tale. Mukesh tells Ranjit a horror story from the 1920s. It is a true story, which made Ranjit scared and was left with many questions. The tale is scary yet interesting to read.

Lie Thy Soul Speak: This story is written by Jonali Karmakar. Based on true story, it depicts a horror adventure faced by a family. The family is dead except a grandfather and one more lady. The narrator and the entire family are aware of this for after complete two months.The author has written this story in the most interesting way with a tint of scariness.

The Fragrance: This story is written by Nikhil Uprety. Avantika and Anjali are best friends from the day of their high school days. But one day, the college people found Anjali dead in her room, room no. 12. Avantika was broken into pieces when she saw her best friend like this. Why would she kill herself?? When Anjali’s family came and packed back all her stuff, Avantika entered the room after having dinner. Every girl stopped her from going to room no. 12 but she didn’t listen. The next morning, in the same way, Avantika was found dead. But what was the connection? It was the fragrance.

A Secret Diary: This story is written by Surbhi Sareen. Ivan and Isabella are happily married and everything goes well until the day she figured a secret diary. A diary of a girl Matrinda. Bella was sure that one day or the other, Matrinda will kill her. But Bella got trapped in her own trap. Getting influenced with Matrinda’s spirit, Bella killed her own love, Ivan.

The White Maruti: This story is written by Manish Mahajan. Rajasthan is a place where everything happens. A maruti car, which became haunted. A car in which people used to nobody as a driver. The story depicts some incidents shared by around coming from that place.The story has no end as nobody ever figured out any ghost or spirit but the belief is strong.

TheDead Shadows: This story is written by Samridhi Sharma. The story is a cluster of few scary incidents, which will leave your mind questioned. The crispiness of words used and the way those are outlined by the author is amazing. Of course the stories are bit scary to read, so read them while holding your breath.

23 Minutes: This story is written by Finan Mohamed. Danny and the narrator are best friends and they always used to share everything with each other. But Danny is no more now. The story is about how Danny died under scary circumstances. But the narrator thinks because of him his best friend died. Who’s next?

Awoke: This story is written by Ruchi Chopra. Akansha, a sweet little girl is now at her huge and beautiful house with her parents. As she doesn’t have any friends, she’s lonely. One day she finds a secret place where she found many old things. Her loneliness became less but she didn’t knew that she is into friendship with sisters who are already dead. Prachi, her mother also accompanied Akansha one day. But did she came back?

Be On Time: This story is written by Sriramana Muliya. Suresh is a jogger and he loves running. One morning at 4 am, he peeped into a lark for his practices. But something strange happened with him. His pace automatically speed up and another moment he was restless. But when he finally managed to get and leave for the day, he found a guard coming his way. Though he looked strange. He warned him and showed him the notice board, where it was written that walking to be done between 5 am to 9 pm only. When Suresh turned back to leave the park, he saw that the gate of that park was locked. Then who was that guard??

Route 44: This story is written by Anshul Akhoury. Riddima and Sujith are on vacation. It was only two and a half years old they got married. As Sujith got hike in his promotion, the couple is all set to celebrate the occasion by buying a new car. They are on Route 44 but something strange is happening. It is a story of a girl, Riddima, who is busy spending leisure time with her husband, who is dead. Will she be able to come back to present?

The Three Nights: This story is written by Sonal Parmar and Sarika Gautam. 3 friends, Chindi, Vijay and Thakur have killed a farmer, Ram Singh along with his family. The trio are always on the negative side when it comes to earn money. The scary incidents in the story tells you howthe spirit of Ram Singh took his revenge against the trio. I liked the plot of the story as it also leaves a message behind at the end.

I Am Prepared: This story is written by Aarushi Ohri. Nishant is a boy, who never used to say abusive language. I was an obedient child. Few instances occurred in his life make him so aggressive that he kills many children in his school. Some spirit was guiding him to do so. It is an interesting story to read as the plot is amazingly framed. Nishant is ok as of now but he is targeting on to next prey. Who will it be?

The Right Hand: This story is written by Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra. Rohan is happy with his tiring life. He came back to work after a long holiday but he didn’t know about the haunting things coming up soon in his life. The story is about a man, who was discovered by Rohan that his right hand doesn’t match to the complexion of his body. Rohan tried to run from that man but later, he was haunted by the same man.

The Trap: This story is written by Kumar Vikrant. Sid and Juhi are married and were blessed with a daughter, Neha. Sid was having a good time in his life, until when his friend Ruchi gave him a call. They both were separated many years ago but Sid was surprised to receive her call. Ruchi calls him to save her life. The story depicts about the trap, in which Sid was haunted bythe spirit of Ruchi. But he finally comes back to home. As soon as he returns, he discovers that Juhi is not there. Where is she? Another trap?

Light and Darkness: This story is written by Hina Choudhary. The narrator is telling a story about his brother Shubham. It depicts how he experiences a new world and is unaware of everything that happened with him in 14 days. The plot ofthe story is good but I felt it was little off the track.

The Unsolved Mystery: This story is written by Sanjeeban Nanda. This story is about a love life, which Sameera and Adarsh leads. Sameera’s father was against this relationship so he wanted to kill her daughter’s love of her life, Adarsh. The story is not scary to read but yes it gives you an essence of love. A love story which was not meant to be a successful one.

Fear: This story is written by Nabeela Mahboob and Rumi Mohamed. The story is about a doctor who falls in love with his patient. But the girl was not mentally fit. The girl goes mad when the doctor starts avoiding her. But it is not his fault. She was going mad at him as he was not able to give her time. But she will take her revenge, sooner or later.

Preying Guest: This story is written by Sriramana Muliya. Sagarika is a working lady and she wanted a PG to stay for her convenience. But what she experienced was a bit scary to tell and write both. She was being trapped by the ghosts of that huge palace and the ghosts didn’t want her to go either. Will she able to come out of the trap?

Prateeksha: This story is written by Aashi Dahiya. The story is about a 14 years old girl, Prateeksha. She experiences ghosts in her grandfather’s house. The story is about how she overcomes with her fear, which is interestingly pen down by the author.

The Ghost of a Memory: This story is written by Jash Dahiya. The story is about the twins, Vicky and Shaivi. Born in the mountain area, Vicky survived whereas Shaivi had to say goodbye to her life as soon as she was born. Now she has come to take away his twin brother. Will Vicky go with her or she will come back next year again on their birthday?

Fallen Leaves: This story is written by Vivek Banerjee. Simar and Sahir are married but they usually fight a lot. One day Sahir didn’t return home as he was angry with Simar. But after a deep thinking, he decided to forgive his wife and returned home. From the sudden knock at the door, Simar was shocked. When she approached the main door, she couldn’t see anybody at the door. But Sahir was continuously knocking the door. Why he couldn’t be seen?

The Shadow Twilight: This story is written by Sreelekha Chatterjee. Isha quit her college for few months as she wasn’t well. But when she returned to the college to learn her missed lessons, she experienced something different. I won’t reveal the story as the author has interestingly written it. The usage of words is nice and you’ll be engraved in the story for sure.

The Dream Caster: This story is written by Chandrapal Khasiya. Dhruv is the main lead of the story, who encounters different types of dreams. The interesting part is whatever he is seeing in his dreams is been written by his dead father in a dairy. The story is about how Dhruv overcomes the bad spirits in a positive way.

Another World: This story is written by DeepankKanojia. Laxman and Sudha study in the same school and are very good friends. They loved each other but they couldn’t be together as Sudha was a genie. Laxman was scared to hear this but he loved her too. This short love story takes a scary turn when Laxman died on the day of his marriage with another girl. He had a heart attack. Did Sudha took him away to her world?

The Prisoner’s Revenge: This story is written by Akash Shrivastav. The story is about office colleagues who goes for an adventurous trip. There they encounter some strange incidents, which leads to death of 3-4 of their friends. It has a ghost who kills the people who comes tothe forest. Though at the end everything comes back to normal. But story takes a turn when it is showcased that after few days of this incident, a group of college friends visit there and they go through the same circumstances.

Happy Birthday: This story is written by Sriramana Muliya. The story is about a 5 years old girl, Avantika. The story is too short to read and there is no scary touch to it. The last part is scary where Avantika is roaming around the hall in a green coloured frock. When asked by her aunt that what is she doing there late at night, she replies by saying that she wants cake. Her voice was that of an adult male.

Rating: 3.75/5

Overall, I liked the book and would love to recommend you to read it too. But one thing, which was a drawback was the editing. The editing has not been done nicely. Otherwise, the book is worth buying.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this detailed book review. Do share your views and experiences in the comments below.

Always keep smiling, it makes you look beautiful!

Disclaimer:The book is been sent by the Authors’ Ink Publication for the review purposes, but views shared are my own.

‘Case Files of the Dead’ by Authors’ Ink Publication: Book Review was last modified: September 7th, 2016 by Kanika Sharma